Wednesday, August 17, 2011

[ZESTCaste] Reopening the debate on quota

The ban on Aarakshan in three States offers an opportunity for theRight to distinguish itself by asserting the constitutional moralityenvisaged by BR Ambedkar. This is the moment for the Right to embraceAmbedkarite constitutionalism as an effective antidote to both thestatist policies of Leftist ideologues and the dynastic politics ofthe Left-leaning Congress.

It began as a game of political one-upmanship by a maverickconscience-keeper but with the Uttar Pradesh Government taking thelead in banning Prakash Jha's film Aarakshan, the proverbialfloodgates it seems have been opened. The ban on Aarakshan by UttarPradesh has been followed by two other States at the time of writingthis column with several others likely to follow suit. It is anybody'sguess at this time if the movie will hit the theatres as per itsintended release schedule. But one thing is certain; the version thatwill eventually release in India will see much politically correctediting.Six decades of caste-based quotas later both the quantum of quotas andsensitivity over caste prejudices both remain a hot button politicalissue. For a while during 2006, much thanks to Arjun Singh'schampionship, the nation was once again witness to street protestsover caste-based reservations. The near total political consensus onquotas, the long drawn court interventions and the political linepursued by the UPA regime of universalising entitlements, those streetprotests soon fizzled out. With the exception of Rajasthan which sawfiery caste conflict over quotas, for the most part the last few yearshave been bereft of any mass political movements on caste.Political empowerment of specific caste groups in different States hasalso perhaps contributed to this relative calm. In fact, the dominantpolitical paradigm of the past few election cycles at the State levelhas been political consolidation based on a stable casteconfiguration. Ms Mayawati's Sarvajan strategy, Mr Nitish Kumar'smicro-mandalisation and the latest attempt in Maharashtra to script agrand coalition between the Shiv Sena, BJP and Mr Ramdas Athavale'sRPI are examples of this shift at the State level. But for theoccasional noise on quotas in the private sector there hasn't beenmuch clamour for new quotas.The demand for communal sub-quotas within existing quotas continues tohave some traction, especially from Dalit-Christian groups. The riseof the Dalit entrepreneur and the broader shift to a private sectoreconomy in most areas has also contributed to this relative calm.The politics of universal entitlements and the politics of empowermenthave overtaken the politics over quotas. It is no accident thatcorruption bred by the twin evils of crony capitalism and cronysocialism has become the dominant issue past many months for thatcorruption is a by-product of these dominant political twins. It wouldnot be an exaggeration to conclude that the politics of quotas is on agraph of diminishing returns. Hence the political brouhaha overAarakshan defies logic.It is understandable that in the run-up to the high stakes battle inUttar Pradesh there is one-upmanship over who is perceived to be theguardian of Dalit interests. This perhaps explains SC/ST Commissionchairman PL Punia's activism against the movie and the Uttar PradeshGovernment's pre-emptive strike to neutralise any potential politicaldividends to the Congress. But the speed with which this has spread toPunjab and far south Andhra Pradesh makes it all the more curious. Arewe back to the days of caste-based mobilisation and street protests oris this political chain reaction an aberration?Sensitivity to caste prejudice is a political holy cow much likeGandhi's legacy. The political chain reaction over any perceivedslight on Gandhi or, for that matter, Ambedkar has now acquired apredictable trajectory. The chain reaction over Aarakshan is amanifestation of the same political correctness. Some may argueagainst this from the pulpit of absolute freedom of expression and thetyranny of all identity politics. But a more effectivecounter-argument to this political correctness would be to hold theprotagonists to the Gandhi test or the Ambedkar test.So what would BR Ambedkar have done if he were alive today in responseto the movie 'Aarakshan'?Ambedkar's many interventions during the Constituent Assembly debatesoffer the best guide to his thought process on contemporary issues.Ambedkar also makes his views on freedoms quite clear in his Statesand Minorities, calling for no restrictions on freedoms except in therarest of rare cases involving public order and morality. One canperversely interpret "public order" and "morality" to justify thepolitically opportunistic pre-emptive actions of the kind we arewitnessing today.However, Ambedkar leaves no room for ambiguity in his 'Grammar ofAnarchy' speech in which he calls caste prejudices of all kinds"anti-national" because they generate "jealousy and antipathy betweencaste and caste". In the same speech he also makes clear hispreference for politics of empowerment with his clarion call to "makeroom for realisation of aspirations".It must be said that the Right has been timid and unimaginative in itsembrace of Ambedkar. It may pay lip service to him as an icon but hasoffered little respect to his constitutionalism and unshakeable faithin due process and rule of law. There is much in Ambedkar'sconstitutionalism to support a coherent centre-right agenda, if closeattention is paid to his interventions in the Constituent Assemblydebates and to his writings.The debate over the ban on Aarakshan is an opportunity for the Rightto distinguish itself by asserting the constitutional moralityenvisaged by Ambedkar. It is time the Right look beyond politicalHindutva of the 1990s to embrace an Ambedkarite constitutionalism asan effective antidote to both the statist policies of the Leftistideologues and to the dynastic politics of the Left-leaning Congress.Source: The Pioneer